The BFI London Film Festival is back and while it might not have the glamour of Venice and Cannes, there’s no arguing with the incredibly rich and diverse offering of our own homegrown film fest (of which, 111 features have been helmed by a female director this year). Oh. Yeah.
Running from 4th-15th October, LFF gives movie lovers a chance to catch anything from highly anticipated indie flicks to controversial documentaries and shiny future Oscar nominees. Over the course of two weeks, you can expect *deep breath* 243 features, 67 countries repped, 28 world premieres and 128 shorts, screened at venues all over London. Yes, it can be tough to know where to start. So here are 10 of the very best films not to miss.
Breathe
Opening the festival is Andy Serkis’ (yep, Andy "my precious" Serkis) true-story directorial debut starring Andrew Garfield as Robin Cavendish, a Brit who becomes paralysed after being struck down with polio at 28, with Claire Foy playing his unwavering wife. It’s the kind of soaring, odds-defying feature pretty much hand-tailored for awards season, but essential viewing on the way the medical world has come to view disability.
Out 27th October
Downsizing
Imagine becoming filthy rich and getting to live out your days in a sprawling mansion. The catch? You have to be shrunk to five inches tall. A comedy set in a near-future where scientists have discovered how to reduce people to pocket-size in an effort to save the world’s resources, Matt Damon, Christoph Waltz and Kristen Wiig are faced with the age-old question: Is the grass always greener? Imagine Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, with less gee-whiz and more black humour and moving social satire.
UK release date TBC
Ingrid Goes West
Millennials, beware. First-time filmmaker Matt Spicer’s savage black comedy follows Ingrid Thorburn (Aubrey Plaza), a social-media-stalker who travels to Venice Beach to meet and befriend Instagram influencer Taylor Sloane (played with glossy abandon by Elizabeth Olsen). A cautionary tale about confusing ‘followers’ for friends, it will have you wondering whether your hashtags are prime stalking fodder. It’s ridiculous, madcap and strangely thought-provoking in equal measure. Think Black Mirror but with better filters.
Out 17th November
Battle of the Sexes
The new film from the makers of eternally lovable Little Miss Sunshine follows the legendary 1973 tennis clash between Billie Jean King (Emma Stone) and Bobby Riggs (Steve Carell) in what ultimately became a touchstone of gender equality in sport. It’s a hilarious and satisfying showdown of feminist heroine vs self-proclaimed chauvinistic pig and, although its roots are heavily embedded in sports, its message feels more timely than ever.
Out 24th November
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
British-Irish playwright Martin McDonagh (the genius behind In Bruges and Seven Psychopaths) is back with another razor-sharp pitch-black comedy, this time about a woman who will stop at nothing to get justice after her daughter is murdered. Frances McDormand is scorching as the foul-mouthed vigilante mother and Woody Harrelson and Sam Rockwell are brilliant as bumbling law enforcers. It’s surprisingly full of heart but delivers on the rip-roaring one-liners, and had the audience applauding when they weren’t keeled over in stitches.
Out 12th January 2018
The Killing of a Sacred Deer
Those who loved the weirdness of Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Lobster are in for a treat with his new cold-as-an-operating-table psychological horror. Colin Farrell plays a successful surgeon who is forced to make an unthinkable sacrifice when his family comes under threat, with Nicole Kidman reprising her role (kind of, not really) as an eerily porcelain Stepford wife. The surprise? As twisted and surreal as it is, it’s laugh-out-loud funny. Well, provoking the kind of panicked laugh-shriek when all the lights go out in your house.
Out 17th November
Good Time
You may have heard quite a lot of buzz behind this one already, whether it’s Robert Pattinson’s unrecognisable matted peroxide mane or the raving proclamations that he’s shed his Edward Cullen shadow for good. And the Safdie brothers' crime thriller doesn’t disappoint, diving into the gritty underbelly of New York following a botched bank job. It’s an electric and manically energetic watch, bolstered by its pulsing soundtrack (Oneohtrix Point Never does the score), which will leave you feeling like you need a lie-down.
Out 3rd November
Stronger
Jake Gyllenhaal takes on one of his most challenging roles to date, playing Jeff Bauman, the survivor of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing who lost both legs while waiting for his girlfriend at the finishing line. Tears. There will be lots of tears. But it’s not about easy sentimentality here. The inspiring story is made even more powerful by its warts-and-all portrayals of the characters, as well as its realistic look at trauma and how it changes people, inside and out.
Out 8th December
Call Me By Your Name
Recall your first love and it probably didn’t look like this (but you wish it did). It’s the summer of 1983 in the sun-soaked Italian Riviera, and the life of a 17-year-old boy takes a turn when he meets his father’s research assistant (played with simmering intensity by Armie Hammer). Agony and ecstasy ensue in Italian filmmaker Luca Guadagnino’s ( A Bigger Splash, I Am Love) tender coming-of-age tale, along with a gorgeous '80s setting, dreamy music (Sufjan Stevens worked on the soundtrack) and one throat-catchingly tender scene between father and son.
Out 27th October
The Florida Project
American director Sean Baker stunned audiences with his 2015 iPhone-shot trans film Tangerine, and his follow-up is no less captivating. Moonee is a wisecracking 6-year-old toeing the poverty line with her struggling young single mother, the pair living in a lurid roadside motel in the shadow of Orlando’s Disney World. Among the industrial-size dumpsters and abandoned condos, the film’s flawed but lively characters make a statement about human spirit. Expect laughter and sadness in this not-to-be-missed drama.
Out 10th November
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